Martha

Chapter 16 Bumps

Chapter 16
Bumps

Martha closed her eyes. I closed my eyes too. Immersed in some sort of a trance, a trance of physical attraction, of a world that conspired in a way never imagined or expected by me, we flowed. Like a jigsaw puzzle the pieces had been placed in time and space when it was proper, when it was correct, us fitting here perfectly, as the last two to be assembled.

We kissed, a soft gentle kiss. A kiss that lasted one or two seconds before I reacted. It felt so good, still in the same way I knew it was not appropriate. I craved to devour her lips, and maybe some more of hers too. But some Puritan instinct, a sudden, rare and hatred instinct, made me pull my lips off.

Without thinking it twice, I got up. Martha remained on the floor for a moment, still with her eyes closed, until the moment she realized that I was not on top of hers anymore. Placing her hand on the chest with embarrassment, she gave a quick glance at me. With quick hands, she fixed her skirts to cover her bared legs.

I helped her up and both stood in front of each other in silence until silence itself became deafening to us.

"Martha."

"Antonio."

Um... yeah, that awkward moment when both man and woman speak at the same time, laugh and make funny faces because of that, just happened. "Me first...", I said.  She just nodded and waited for me to talk. "Look, Martha, I just want to apologize for... tumbling over you, and for..."

Martha interrupted me, for I knew that she knew what I was about to say. "It's fine, Antonio. It was an accident. It was my fault for leaving the boxes in the middle. It could have ended worst... I mean... with you badly hurt." Martha stopped speaking, grimaced once more and rubbed the back of her head.

I had totally forgotten that I had fallen on top of hers and that she was the first to hit the floor, her head hitting the floor first. I was such an imbecile! And I thought she was gasping of lust and desire for me. She wasn't closing her eyes because she waited for a passionate kiss. She was hurt!

"Oh, please, Martha, let me check the back of your head." I gently I removed her hands.

She griped and jerked back. "Ouch!"

"Oh, I'm sorry... it's that you have a bump there."

She took my hands off and stepped back. "It is nothing. I'm going to be fine", she retorted.

"No it is not. You have a big bump back there. You need to go to the hospital to..."

"I ain't going to see any doctor... I just need too..." a dizzy Martha placed her hand on her forehead, wobbled while stretching her arms to hold onto me.

I grabbed her. "I got you... Martha... Martha!"

It was next morning when Martha finally opened her eyes. With evident confusion , she scanned the room around, until she found me sitting in the not too comfortable armchair next to the positional bed.

"What happened?... What I am doing in a hospital?... What are you doing here?" Martha desperately tried to sit up straight.

"Everything is fine, Martha... calm down... you need to rest."

"Rest? Why? But...What happened?" Martha looked so vulnerable, addled.

"Martha, you fell... I mean, We tripped and then fell... don't you remember?" I stood up and held her hand.

Martha fanned her eyelashes and rolled her eyes in search for images in her mind, for some memories to connect with. That worried me, even though, doctors repeatedly told me the scan reflected no brain damage. However, if she had lost some of her short term memory, that was not a good sign.

"You were at my place?" She stared at me.

"Yes."

"You were helping me with some boxes... yes, I remember... Oh!" Her cheeks flushed and her eyes widened and then placed her hand on her lips. "Then you kissed me!"

We stared at each other in silence. She remembered. Soon it urged in me the need to apologize, when the doctor arrived with a nurse. The nurse adjusted the serum to make it flow slower than before. The doctor, too young and far handsome to plead in him a vote of trustfulness, checked on Martha's pulse and then examined her head. "Mss. Higgins, you are a lucky woman... If it wasn't by your fiancé, who brought you here after following the right procedure, that bump in your head would have been a problem. That cold compress in the affected area was the correct idea, Mr. Grau. The scan revealed no other than a superficial contusion..." The doctor explained.

When Martha heard the word 'fiancé', her lips twitched sternly. The expression on her face told me she was not too happy being told the last one we were engaged. I knew the word "fiance' rang in her ears in not the most pleasant way. For me it was quite funny. I giggled and Martha gave me a mortified look. "Do you have any doubts?" The doctor asked Martha.

"No." Martha and I replied at the same time.

"That's cute. You two are really connected to each other... that's good." The doctor laughed.

For Martha, the comment wasn't hilarious at all. With her eyes, she shut me off. I read her thoughts. The woman was fuming and I was enjoying the moment. The most amusing thing though. Well at least for me, because for Martha, being my girlfriend all of a sudden and without her previous consent, was not her kind of joke.

"Well, Mrs. Judy, your nurse, will bring the discharge papers in an hour. Remember to rest and do not exceed in your duties for the next 24 hours. If there's any other symptom, please do not hesitate to come back to the ER. Understood?... Well, take care and have a nice day." The doctor left the room with the nurse. Martha and I looked at each other.

"Did you say you were my fiancé?" She retorted.

"Do you remember the kiss between us?" I wanted to know.